Category: United States
Lexington: The president and the pump
REPUBLICAN politicians do not yet blame Barack Obama personally for the recent changes in America’s weather. That would stick in the craw, given that, in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence, most of them still question and m…
Rolling back the nanny state: Live free and pay more tax
LAST week the state of Washington began auctioning the licences to 167 of the liquor stores it runs. By June 1st Washington will be out of the liquor business altogether, freeing private businesses to sell spirits in the state for t…
The Republican race: The triumph of the carpetbagger
Rick Santorum goes marching on
THE night before Republicans in Alabama and Mississippi voted in their primaries, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum made their final appeals at a forum in an ornate old theatre in downtown Birmingham. Mit…
Voter identification: No go again
VOTERS in Texas have had three electoral excitements lately. The first was that in February, after a series of rejections, federal judges in San Antonio finally approved a new map for the state’s congressional districts, meaning that Texas could fina…
California and taxes: All fall down
THOMAS HOBBES famously described the original state of nature as bellum omnium contra omnes. California’s governor, Jerry Brown, who received a Jesuit education and likes to flaunt his classical learning, has of late been using the phrase to describe…
Counter-terrorism: A snoop too far
BECAUSE of the September 2001 attacks, the New York Police Department has become a sophisticated counter-terrorism agency. In the decade since then the NYPD has increased the number of detectives on a joint task-force it has long operated with the FBI …
Building mosques: Answering the call
We all need buildings to help us along
IN EARLY 2010 opponents of a proposed mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, spray-painted “NOT WELCOME” on a sign announcing the new building. Simple-minded vandalism, perhaps; but their scrawl…
College enrolment: Snob nation
Not Mr Santorum’s favourite person
Correction to this articleON FEBRUARY 25th Rick Santorum, the second-ranking Republican presidential hopeful, called President Barack Obama a snob for advising everyone to get themselves a college…
Lexington: The view from Tehran
HERE in Iran I have been finding it hard to make sense of all the strident utterances about the Islamic Republic emanating from America’s capital this week. Being Supreme Leader, I need to understand what my enemy is thinking. Bei…
The Republican nomination: No end in sight
“WE’RE counting up the delegates for the convention, and it looks good,” declared Mitt Romney on March 6th—“Super Tuesday”—the biggest single day in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. And so, up to a …
